


Fall

by nishiwishi



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, F/M, Generally Bad Writing, Golf, M/M, larry stylinson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2013-12-03
Packaged: 2018-01-03 07:51:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishiwishi/pseuds/nishiwishi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis found himself staring at the tall stranger in front of him. He had on a ridiculously cheesy looking golf outfit and he was wearing this headband that was keeping his curls away from his face and it looked so dorky, and he had a rather large mouth with cherry red lips and dimples and green eyes and he was the most perfect person Louis had ever seen.</p><p>Louis hates everyone, and Harry's just the stupid angel-like thing that fell into his life. </p><p>Or, one of those where Louis' hurt and Harry's his savior with a bit of golf on the side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Yes well, I've written this much too quickly and it's probably bad? But I would have hated myself if I didn't post it so, enjoy? I guess?

"Lou, get up!" Louis jerked awake to the feeling of falling off the couch and onto the floor. He groaned and sent his middle finger somewhere in the general direction of his flatmate, dreading the speech that he knew was coming.

"Sorry mate, but you slept on the couch again." Niall said, not sounding the least bit sorry. Bastard.

"And what exactly is wrong with that?" Louis replied, his voice muffled by the carpet he was still lying on. Niall sighed, considering leaving Louis on the floor for the third time that week (and it was only Tuesday).

"C'mon Lou, this has been going on for too long." The Irishman grabbed his flat mate- and best friend-'s hand and pulled him up into a sitting position. Louis groaned in protest. (Why Niall. Why.) "You're coming out with me today, Liam and Zayn'll be there, and I want you to meet someone."

"I don't wanna meet someone, Ni. I want to sit here and wallow in self-pity and eat ice cream." Louis said, but he didn’t try and fight Niall. Maybe it was time for him to get back into the swing of things. Or maybe that was the killer hangover he had and the sleepy haze he was in. Probably that. 

"Well, you're not going to. Go take a shower and wear something nice; we're going golfing." Louis groaned. He absolutely hated golf.

\--

Louis could say that he-who-must-not-be-named was the reason he hated golfing, but it wasn’t (It totally was). He hadn’t been golfing with the lads for months, and he felt slightly out of place as Niall pulled into the lot. He parked the car outside the small golf shop next to the range and took a deep breath, looking at Louis.

"Promise me you'll try to move on, Lou?" He said softly. "I love you, mate, but you've got to get yourself together. He's gone, alright? He didn't love you, but I promise you there is someone out there who will treat you how you deserve." He did a poor job of hiding his hopeful expression.

"…yeah, okay. I'll try." He said, crossing the fingers that Niall couldn't see.

"Uncross your fingers, Lou," the Irishman said, not even looking at Louis.

"Ugh, remind me again why you're my best mate?"

"Because you love me."

"...yeah, I do."

\--

Louis walked behind Niall, thinking that maybe he looked a little like a lost puppy, but he didn't care (even though he really did). As they walked past the shop he flipped a discreet finger at the door, even though he was pretty sure the person it was meant for wasn't in there. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he slammed into Niall, who had stopped, and when he spotted Liam and Zayn he smiled at them, waving.

"Hey there, Lou!" Liam said, jogging up to him and pulling him in for a hug. “I haven’t seen you in forever!” He exclaimed, directly into Louis’ ear, mind you. 

“You saw me two days ago, Li.” Louis deadpanned, chuckling. He started to pull away but Zayn and Niall joined in and Louis was squished in between a man-sandwich (and he was lying if he said he didn’t like it). He almost didn't notice the deep voice speaking from behind him. Almost.

"Am I interrupting something?" They sprung apart and Louis found himself staring at the tall stranger in front of him. He had on a ridiculously cheesy looking golf outfit and he was wearing this headband that was keeping his curls away from his face and it looked so dorky, and he had a rather large mouth with cherry red lips and dimples and green eyes and he was the most perfect person Louis had ever seen.

"Harreh!" Niall tackled him into a hug. Why did Niall get to touch this god-like creature? (yes, Louis needs help.)

"Hi, Niall." The boy smiled and fluffed Niall's hair, nodding to Liam and Zayn. When his eyes met Louis', time seemed to stop- and blue met green. (And since when was Louis this poetic?)

"Hi, I'm Harry"

Well, hello Harry.

\--

So when the next week came around, Louis was awake, showered, and ready for golf before Niall even opened his eyes. (And seriously, Niall woke up at the asscrack of dawn. Every day.)

Said Irish lad stumbled down the stairs in his fresh pressed golf outfit, stopping in shock at the sight of Louis ready with two cups of tea and some toast. 

"So what made you change your mind about golf? I thought you hated it?" Niall said, his mouth already full of toast and tea. Louis wrinkled his nose in disgust and shoved a napkin in his face.

"It's not that I hate it, really, I just, like, don't enjoy playing it." Louis cleared his throat, trying not to stammer. "Watching, however I can deal with"

"Watching what?" Nails snickered. And then Louis proceeded to dump the rest of Niall's breakfast on his head, because fuck him. 

On the way there, Louis learned every detail that he needed to know about Harry Styles (but really, what kind of name even is that). He’s an Aquarius, he’s been going to golf for a few months now, he has an older sister and a loving mum, all that.

And so Louis proceeded to sit in the corner and watch the way Harry’s hair flopped around even though he was wearing a headband. And how his face scrunched up when he missed a shot. And how he literally jumped up and down when he got the ball in the hole, no matter how many times he missed before.

On the second week, he sat and watched the way Harry's muscles rippled under his grandpa shirt when he swung. Later, they all went out for ice cream (and Harry's favorite flavor just so happened to be Louis' also) and Harry offered to drive Louis home even though he lives with Niall and Niall was also driving home.

On the third week Harry grabbed him and taught him how to properly swing the club, and Louis got a hole in one. Later, Louis and Niall invited Harry to their flat. Louis made Harry the best cup of tea that he had ever had.

On the fourth week Perrie showed up and they both creepily watched Zayn and Harry while sitting in the golf cart. And after the four golfers were done, Harry gave him his number and kissed him on the cheek.

On the fifth week, Harry kissed him in the golf cart, and Louis let him. And after that he took him to the bakery he worked at during the week and they talked to the old ladies for hours.

During the week after that, Harry stayed over at Niall and Louis’ and they had a week-long Lord of the Rings/Star Wars/Harry Potter marathon, complete with the Lego video games on Xbox.

And a few weeks later when Louis finally told Harry about Josh he was a crying blubbering mess and he fully expected Harry to tell him to sleep it off like Niall and Zayn had, or to take him out for ice cream like Liam did. Instead he held Louis for as long as he cried and plenty of time after and cried right along with him and sung softly in his ear and Louis thinks that maybe he is the luckiest person in the world if he gets to keep the wonder that is Harry Styles.

And it had been 12 weeks since he met Harry that he realized that he was in love with him. And that scared the shit out of him.

Exactly two weeks after that is when shit went down.

Louis had walked into the small golf shop, expecting Nick or Andy or Perrie to be behind the counter. But instead he came face to face with Josh himself.

"Well, if it isn't the gay fag." He sneered. Louis. Would be lying if he said he didn't internally panic. His face was the same as the last time Louis saw it- cold and remorseless and ruthless. (Was that over dramatic? Whoops.)

"I-I thought you quit." Louis replied quietly, the urge to run straight out of the store creeping from his head to his toes. He knew Josh worked here- that's how they met. But he just thought Josh had quit after what happened. Or well, he had hoped. And this wasn't his shift. (Not that he has memorized it or anything. That would just be plain creepy)

"Wrong. This job pays way to well for me to quit. Even better, I got promoted- I'll be here all day. And besides, I would never skip out on seeing you every week. Sealing of, I missed you, Lou. You haven't come in for a few, what is it now, months?" He smirked, moving around the counter to stand right in front of Louis. "You were a great shag, Louis, did you know that? I especially loved fucking your face and watching you choke. Or all those times you would blow me and I'd leave you to deal with yourself? You were such a cheap dirty whore. And do you want to know what the best part of our little 'relationship' was? You did everything I said. You were so whipped, it was hilarious." Louis whimpered, tears building up in his eyes. He tried blinking them back.

"Please," His voice was small. "Please, stop."

"What have you even been doing, Lou? How have you been?" He continued as if Louis hadn't spoken. "What, have you been sulking around your little flat the whole time and hoping that I would come back for a little faggot like you-"

"Where do you get off talking to people like that?" A deep voice said from behind Louis. Harry was standing there, his knight in shining golf-wear, and Louis could barely make out his face through the tears swimming in his eyes. His voice was so hostile, Louis hadn't ever heard it like that. (Would this be a bad time to mention that it was insanely hot?)

"Harry! It's been too long, mate" Harry snarled at Josh, moving Louis behind him. "Are you with this fag now? Don't waste your time, trust me, he’s not that great a fuck-"

"You told me what you did and that you regret it Josh, but I didn't know you did it to someone as innocent as Louis. And he way you were talking to him, you didn't seem sorry at all. You didn't deserve him" Louis almost gasped- Harry knew Josh? And Harry had already knew about what Josh did?

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry, sorry I spent that long with this queer because of a stupid bet." he sneered.

Louis' head shot up. A bet?

"You're fired." Harry said, before turning his attention to Louis. "Are you okay?"

"Harry," He choked out. Harry used his thumbs to wipe away the tears that had finally streamed down his cheeks.

"Excuse me, I don't want to interrupt- oh wait, yes I do- but how can you exactly fire me?" Josh said smugly. Harry gently let go of Louis and punched Josh straight in the nose.

"I own this place, you dick."

"...oh."

Harry threw his arm around Louis' waist and dragged him out of the store, straight to his huge Range Rover.

"Haz, you don't own this place, do you?" Louis said, wiping his tears away with the back of his sleeve.

"No, of course not. But he doesn't know that, does he?" Harry gently replied, smiling a bit and pushing Louis' hands out of the way and replacing them with his own.

"Oh my god, Harry, you're amazing"

And the shining in Harry eyes was what marked that day when Louis stopped counting weeks. He knew Harry wasn't going to leave him.

\--

And so things went back to normal with Louis. Pre-Josh normal. He pushed back everything that had happened, even what had happened back in the shop. It was epic, really. Except now he had a Harry.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Lou.” Niall said, grabbing Louis’ phone out of his hand, right after he had hit send- and locked it, thank god. “I think you’ve gotten just a tad bit obsessed with Harold.”

Louis scoffed in annoyance and resisted rolling his eyes.

“His name isn't actually Harold. And just because people actually text me, Mr. Niall I-don’t-use-my-phone-for-anything-other-than-to-call-my-mum Horan,” He said, jumping for his phone and internally cursing how he was shorter than every single one of his friends. “Doesn’t mean I’m obsessed.” He finally tipped the phone out of Niall’s hand and caught it seconds before it hit the ground. He shoved it into his back pocket with a triumphant smile and crossed his arms in front of him, sporting a smug grin.

“But you like him.” Niall said, lowering his voice and sitting down. Louis’ grin faded and he sat down next to the Irishman.

“Yeah, of course I do. I think- I’m pretty sure he’s my boyfriend? And I just…I don’t know, Ni. What do I do?” Niall pulled Louis’ head into his lap and stroked his hair, softly kneading his knuckled into his scalp the way he knew Louis liked it. This is why Louis liked Niall- he was goofy and carefree, but he knew when to be serious and just how to take care of Louis. But Louis couldn’t help but wish it was Harry with his fingers in his hair, and feeling guilty, he tucked his head further into Niall’s lap.

“He makes you happy, Lou. I can see it, even now,” Louis turned his face to hide his grin, muffling his embarrassed whine into Niall’s thigh. “I’ve not seen you this happy since before…” his voice trailed off and Louis could see him biting his lip nervously (even though he couldn't really see him at all)

“It’s alright, Niall. It’s been, what, nine months since? I’m over him.” He decided. He smiled reassuringly up at Niall.

“Well. That’s great, Lou.” Niall blinked, trying- and failing- to hide his surprise. The bastard was never good at hiding his emotions. “But…you know this means I have to give Harry the you-hurt-him-I’ll-kill-you speech 2.0, right?” Louis snorted.

“Yeah, like that worked the last time. Don’t worry yourself, Irish. I’ll be fine. I’m tough as stones!” He flexed his muscles to prove his point. Niall poked his bicep and wrinkled his nose.

“Yeah, more like pudding.”

“Niiiialllll,” He drawled, attempting to kick his flat mate, but ending up somehow hurting himself. He took Niall’s hand instead, which was still in his hair, and started playing with it, moving his fingers around to make different shapes (and a few obscene gestures, but really, what else did you expect?)

“’S been five months since I met Harry.”

Niall nodded.

“And I really like him.”

Niall nodded.

“I think I might be in love with him.”

Niall nodded again. Louis hadn’t told this all to him before, had he? Perhaps when he was drunk? No? Okay.

"Hellooo? Did you hear me? I'm in LOVE Niall."

“Y’now, apparently if you’ve had a crush for longer than four months, escpecially on someone who’s your boyfriend, you’re already in love.” Niall said, letting out a small giggle.

“Ni! That’s not helping, be serious for once! S E R I O U S.” He stretched Niall’s middle and ring finger until they couldn’t anymore and Niall snatched his hand back, pouting and rubbing said spot.

“Um, ow. And fine. Serious.” He put on a straight face and his eyes softened and Louis knew that the soft caring Niall had fully arrived and kicked the happy carefree Niall out for five minutes or so.

“But really. I know you love ‘im, Lou. It’s not how you ever were with Josh, or Eleanor, or even Hannah. You look at him as if the sun shines out of his arse- OW!” Niall doubled over (No, Louis had definitely NOT swatted Niall in the balls, what are you on?) and Louis fell off of him lap and onto the floor in a laughing heap.

“Hey there, no rough playing in my house!" Zayn said, sashaying his way between the laughing and groaning boys to the loveseat in the corner. Liam followed in after him, stopping top pull Louis up off the floor. Louis rewarded him with a sloppy kiss to his forearm.

“What happened?” Liam said, genuine concern on his face as he looked over Niall. And ignored the mess on his arm. "And it's not our house, Z."

“Nevermind that.” Louis answered, drifting Liam’s attention away again. “Just remind me to never come to this dickhead for advice. Ever.”

“Louis started it!” Niall said, once he could get his voice to work again (but really, he should be used to this, living with Louis. He should have balls of steel). He folded his arms and huffed and he looked distinctly like a little child who had just been accused of stealing the last cookie.

“No, you were verbally harassing me!” Louis shot back, going over to sit on Zayn’s lap when Liam took his previous spot. “He was verbally harassing me.” He said to Liam, who nodded understandably. Bless him.

“Hey, get your fat arse off of me!” Zayn teased, but he wrapped his arms around Louis’ waist and Louis felt a little loved.

“How did you get in, anyways?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at Liam.

“You gave us a spare key when you got this place, Lou. We come here every day.”

“I did no such thing.” He said, just as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He maneuvered his hand around Zayn’s arms and pulled it out.

‘Louissss, Im bored’ Louis smirked, immediately tapping out a reply. The other lads in the room smiled knowingly, and Louis pretended not to notice. A bunch of pricks, the lot of them. 

‘Hazzaaa, what do you want me to do? ;)’

‘Entertain me ;D’

‘Is that supposed to be sexual??’

‘…Maybe.’

\--

And later, when Liam and Zayn were gone and Louis was lying again with his head in Niall’s lap and a beer in his hands, he thought. Long and hard.

"He's not gonna hurt me, is he Ni?" He finally asked, his voice low and shaking.

"Louis, no babe." Nails heart broke, seeing Louis like this. He had never seen him so emotional, so in love with anyone else in his life. "Harry's different. He truly is a good person, Lou. You'll see, he loves you so much."

"How do you know?"

"Do you know?"

"...yes. I think so." He maneuvered himself so that his body was facing the ground and his face was squished in Niall’s thighs, and pretended to be asleep so Niall had to carry him to his room.

The Irishman looked at the time, sighing when he realized there was still a good 45 minutes until Harry got off his shift at the bakery at 12. Ridiculous timing, if you ask him. He drove over, taking a few deep breaths and making himself look as scary as possible. Which was quite hard. As you could imagine. 

"Harry. Listen mate, we need to talk." Niall said, his accent accentuated by the deepness of his voice.

"O...kay?" Harry said, dropping the rag phe was cleaning a table with and cowering a bit (or a lot. Which kind if made him look a bit like uncoordinated Bambi. How cute.).

"Look, I'm not mad, Hazza." He continued, trying to sound a little less menacing. (He was trying to warn the kid, not scare him off...right?) "it's just- Louis. He's been hurt far too many times that anyone, especially he, deserves. You don't even know half of what he's gone through." Harry's eyes widened at that.

"No, no, no I would never, ever hurt him, I-"

"I'm not saying you will. What I'm saying is that you have to be patient with him. He doesn't let a lot of people in, it was crazy how fast he accepted you. Liam, Zayn, and I are all he's known for a while. Just be careful, H."

"Of course, Niall. You're not getting rid of me that easy." He paused, taking a few deep breaths. "I'm in love with him Niall. And I don't think he is. Or knows."

"Oh, you don't know how wrong that is, mate."

"Can you tell me? The other half of what he's been through?"

"That's something you're gonna have to talk to him about, Haz"

\--

And on the 18th month since Harry and Louis met, Harry mustered up the courage to ask.

"Lou?" Harry said, stroking Louis' hair. He took in a deep breath, not wanting this moment to pass.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Were- tell me about your other relationships." He said, not wanting to rat out Niall (and failing miserably). Louis froze, scooting up so he could look at Harry.

"Did- did Niall tell you?" His voice sounded so small, Harry wanted to take it all back.

"He didn't tell me anything, babe." Harry said, still stroking his hair. "I just- I don't want to make any mistakes, Lou. I lo- I care about you." Harry stopped himself, not wanting Louis to feel uncomfortable. The smaller boy melted back against Harry's side.

"...the first two relationships I was in were with girls. Weird right? Well, Hannah, she was really nice and funny, people always said we were like the same person in different bodies." Louis gave a sad smile, and Harry tried to ignore the sound of his own heart breaking in two. "She- she broke up with me. When I told her I was bisexual. What a reason, right?” Louis chuckled, but the there was no humor in his eyes. “And then, Eleanor. She was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen- hell, she still is. Our relationship was...it was normal. I thought I loved her, and that she loved me, but one day, on our first anniversary, I caught her in bed with another man. And she didn't even try to explain, she just kind of, I don't know? Shrugged? Like she knew it was going to happen eventually. But she didn't want a second chance. I wasn't worth a second chance." Tears were streaming down both his cheeks, and Harry wiped them away. "A-and then Josh. You know." 

"Louis, I'm so sorry. That- you didn't deserve any of that, and you need to know that. It's not you, babe, it's the stupid little shits that take advantage of your heart. And I promise, in going to fix it, I'm going to out every single piece of it back together. You know why?" He met Louis' eyes, and the smaller boy shook his head.

"No, no, no," he whispered under his breath.

"Because I love you. I'm in love with you, Louis William Tomlinson."

"I- I love you too, Hazza. You know I do." He pulled back a bit. "And I'm sorry you got stuck being in love with me." Harry jerked back even farther, his eyes boring in to Louis’, looking straight into his soul.

“Louis William Tomlinson. I never want to hear those words ever pass your lips again. Do you hear me?” Louis moved to respond, but Harry shushed him. “Just let me speak, babe? Listen. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And if you ever have anything to be sorry for, it’s definitely not that. How can I show you that Lou?” Tears of frustration were building up in his eyes, and he tried desperately to blink them back.

“Harry?” Louis said, a gentle frown gracing his features.

“Lou, I- you were completely honest with me, yeah? Now it’s my turn.” Louis simply nodded, digging his head farther into Harry’s neck.

“Just let me get through this, alright babe?” He waited for Louis to nod again before he continued, “I-I knew Josh. We were pretty good friends, best mates, even.” Louis let out a gasp of surprise before he could hold it back. He had never asked Harry about how he knew Josh, he had just assumed…well that it was nothing. He looked back at Harry, silently begging him to continue. “We…we had a bit of a falling out, right? Because he turned into a dick.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “He would still hang out with my friends, though. So I had to see him sometimes. He would always do something stupid and prickish that would make me so mad and one day- one day he came and told me about this beautiful sweet boy he had made a bet to ruin. And I tried to stop him, I tried so hard Lou, but he wasn’t going to listen to me, he never listens to anyone, does he? So I stopped seeing him around for a while until I saw him one day outside a coffee shop, with you, and you just, fuck, you just looked so beautiful and so kind and innocent and happy and I just wanted to be the one to make you so happy, but I wasn’t, and I think- I think that’s exactly when I fell in love with you, even though we hadn’t even ever spoken or even looked at each other, you know. Love at first sight and all that. But oh god, he did it, he ruined you, he did what he set out to do, and I could’ve stopped it, it’s all my fault Lou! I just so, so sorry, and you probably hate me and you’ll never want to forgive me, and-“

“Harry, listen to me.” They both had tears streaming down their faces and sometime during Harry’s monologue Louis had pulled away to look him in the eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry for. What Josh did was horrible, yes, but none of it was your fault. You can’t think it was.” Harry put his head in his hands, and Louis wrapped his arms around him, because he just looked so fucking small, and Louis always seemed to forget that Harry was actually younger than him, and he thought that maybe it was finally his turn to do the holding, instead of being held. It was strange- Harry had always been the rock, the one to stabilize him, and this vulnerable side of him was scary. But Louis was never one to back out when things got hard.

“I love you, you know that right?” Louis said, stroking his back. Despite being more emotionally worn out than he ever had been in his life, he smiled at being able to say that out loud. “I love you, I love you, I love you, Harry Styles” And as he looked into the eyes of the twenty-something man sitting in his arms, he thought that maybe, just maybe, things were going to be alright.


End file.
